County home prices meet pre-recession levels

In a development that indicates the county’s real estate market is finally shedding the vestiges of the Great Recession, Macomb County’s median single-family home prices have finally increased to 2008 levels.

A report released by the Farmington Hills-based real estate tracking firm Realcomp indicated that countywide median prices in Macomb County increased in June to $107,000, which is a 33.8 percent increase from the same month in 2012.

The big boost in sales prices lags slightly behind price increases reported for Oakland and Wayne counties, which enjoyed price increases of 30 and 55 percent, respectively. Those prices are commensurate with 2007 levels, according to the report.

The increases are proof that there is a slow, sustained improvement in prices that will benefit the county more than the boom-and-bust cycles of the past.

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“I think this shows a change in confidence that people will be able to sell their property, and they’re waiting to see if the prices are going to continue to rise,” she said. “People are starting to feel more optimistic about the market — and the economy as a whole.”

The price increases are very good news for people living in Macomb who hope to recoup their investment in a home or sock away a tidy sum before moving onto other pastures, Kagesaid.

“The slow growth is a great sign for the overall market — we don’t want to see huge increases followed by decreases,” she said. “It’s best for increases to be slow and sustained in order to bring stability to the market.”

The number of single-family homes sales in the county decreased from June 2012 to June 2013 by 5 percent, from 1,084 to 1,030, according to the report. Those numbers are indicative of a tightened market spurred by low inventory levels that have gradually eroded a buyer’s ability to name their prices on available properties.

The number of available homes on the market sharply declined by 29.6 percent yearoveryear in June, with 2,290 listing in June 2013 versus 3,253 last June. Foreclosure sales have declined 42.9 percent, from 410 in June 2012 to 213 this year.

Hank Mendez, a realtor with Weichert Realtors Excel in Shelby Township, said that bidding wars among sellers for a single property has intensified over the last year, as the county’s overall economic and employment outlook has improved.”

“Things have really changed; it’s a seller’s market,” he said. “We’ve seen appreciation go up anywhere from 18 to 24 percent.”

David Hall, the president of Shore Mortgage, said buyers have one distinct advantage over sellers in a red-hot market — interest rates.

“Even though rates have gone up over the last 60 days or so — we’re in the fours and not the threes — it hasn’t diminished the excitement of the low rates. The rates still feel low to buyers, which is going to be good for the market.”

Typically, interest rates would be in the 5 to 6 percent range. But because of the 3 to 4 percent range, buyers can afford a more expensive home that they would have been able to in 2008, Hall said.

Mendez said rates won’t make too much of a difference to buyers who are outbid continually, but said interest rates were a powerful driver to buyers.